Word: mitterrand
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...Soviets dig in, Mitterrand chides them about Sakharov
...guests had sat down at a huge U-shaped table in the Kremlin's frescoed Palace of Facets for the official Soviet banquet in honor of French President Francois Mitterrand. No sooner had the caviar appeared than the traditional toasts began. Soviet Leader Konstantin Chernenko, who had been enjoying hearty laughs with Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, remained seated as he pulled out his prepared text. He began predictably enough by saluting the two countries' longstanding friendship, but then moved into a calibrated criticism of France for supporting NATO's deployment of new U.S. nuclear missiles in Western...
...applause followed the dutiful clinking of vodka glasses, Mitterrand rose to deliver his response. Alternately reading from notes and ad-libbing, the French President paid tribute to Soviet bravery during World War II ("I know the price you paid with spilled blood and 20 million dead"), but then blamed the Soviets' SS-20 missiles for upsetting the nuclear balance in Europe. When Mitterrand cited the 1975 Helsinki accords, which included a pledge to respect human rights, the guests realized what was coming. "All constraint against liberty could cast doubt on those freely accepted principles," Mitterrand intoned. "That...
...mention of Andrei Sakharov's name in French, Chernenko's hand went up to his ear and he looked puzzled. Defense Minister Dmitri Ustinov, who was seated next to French Transport Minister Charles Fiterman, one of four Communists in Mitterrand's Cabinet, uttered an audible sigh of impatience. When the Russian translation was read by the interpreter, a stir crossed the hall. But Chernenko did not even smile ironically, and 55 minutes later the banquet was over...
...Mitterrand was the most important Western leader to venture to Moscow since NATO began to install new missiles in Europe last November. A principal purpose was to persuade the Soviets to renew the frozen East-West dialogue. The Kremlin used Mitterrand's visit to reject U.S. President Ronald Reagan's offer, made at a press conference one week earlier, to meet with Chernenko. At the end of Mitterrand's first full day, Kremlin Spokesman Leonid Zamyatin declared that "there has been no change in the American position that would make a summit meeting a real and concrete...